Satisfaction for the Spiritually Thirsty

Notes: Satisfaction for the Spiritually Thirsty

February 16, 2014

John 4: 3-19

Speaking of Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Whinehouse, Heath Ledger, Kurt Cobain, all overdosed at the age of 27 and at the peak of a career

An encounter between Jesus and the woman at the well. 

Early is on time, on time is late and late is never acceptable

John 4 (NIV)Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman

3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

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Jews and Samaritans did not mix. So this was strange for the woman to be spoken to by an apparent Jewish man, but this man was Jesus

1. We have to go to where people are. John 4:3
1. Jesus wants us to go to all people. 
1. There is no room for hatred, bigotry, racism or dislike.
1. For the fruit to grow, the farmers shadow must fall on the field. 
1. Meaning the farmer must get his hands dirty.
2. We need to care about the people we speak to. John 4:4
1. Every generation needs regeneration.
3. We need to keep at it even when we are tired. John 4:6
1. He was Jesus yet he let himself experience being tired.
1. He always was going, wasn’t ever taking breaks.
2. No where in the Bible are we told to “Slow down and take it easy”
1. In Luke 12:19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ 21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
2. We are told to press on, not be weary in well doing, and to run the race.
1. He doesn’t call people that feel a since of entitlement.
2. 1 Thessalonians 29:9 Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.
4. We need to use tact.
1. Tact is regarded as knowing how to make a point without making an enemy.
1. Jesus could of called this woman a sinner or something worse, but he didn’t.
2. One of the best ways to engage a person is to ask them questions.
3. No one can be argued or manipulated into the kingdom of God.
1. If they can, then they can be argued out as well.
4. Conversion is the work of the Spirit and should be left at that
5. You don’t blow people out of the water, you engage them.
5. We must adapt to the situation John 4:15
1. A person can not appreciate the good news without first acknowledging the bad.
1. Jesus is not an additive, he is the Savior.
1. No conversion without confession.
2. Many try to redirect, we need to keep the main thing the main thing.
1. John 4:20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.
2. Jesus uses an individual approach.
1. John 4:25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
1. This is where most of us drop the ball, or wimp out or walk away.
1. We need to make sure to follow through when someone is ready to accept Christ. You have to ask the question: Are you ready to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior right now?
1. If they say no, then say you will pray for them
2. If they say yes, then pray with them.

Jesus said 3 things to this lady.

1. Who He was.
1. Keep it simple.
2. What He has to offer.
3. How to get it.